Toronto: Having sent crews to Costa Rica, Mexico, Rome, Australia and other exotic ports of call for her teen travel series Get Outta Town!, producer Debbie Nightingale is, for her next big project, looking to go somewhere a little less hospitable, and is planning a trip to Afghanistan next summer to shoot the story of newsman Arthur Kent.

‘Assuming it’s not too dangerous at the time,’ she adds hastily. ‘Although if Arthur takes us I’m sure we’ll be okay.’

Don Truckey (Chicks with Sticks) is writing the untitled MOW for CBC, with help from Kent, looking back on his troubled efforts to report from Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. Nightingale is looking at a $5-million to $7-million budget, and is shopping for both a director and a suitably weather-beaten leading man.

The Alberta-born ‘Scud Stud’ is best known for his in-the-thick-of-it coverage of the first Gulf War on NBC, and may contribute some of his own footage to the MOW. The results should air in ’06/07.

Get Outta Town!, meanwhile, has been picked up for another 26 half-hours on WAM! in the U.S. and will be back in production this summer. Produced by Nightingale and Erin Faith Young (Hardwood), the show teaches kids about the attractions and cultural fine points of other countries, with hosts Barbara Mamabolo and Joe Motiki. The first season debuts on TVOntario next month.

Teens ‘have a real interest in global citizenship issues,’ says Nightingale, adding that international distributor re:think Entertainment will put a big push behind the show at the next MIPTV. The series is backed by a deal with EF Educational Tours, plus some Shaw Rocket Fund money.

Nightingale is also developing two shows with Maggie Cassella, formerly of the Star! talker Because I Said So, starting with Liar’s Poker, a mass-market feature for CHUM and The Movie Network/Movie Central.

It’s ‘a funny Maltese Falcon,’ says Nightingale. ‘Smart funny, as opposed to broad funny.’ The script by Cassella and story editor Brad Fraser follows an as-yet-uncast policewoman on a road trip to find a lost relic. It’s budgeted for $3 million to $4 million and will put in for Telefilm Canada cash this summer, looking to shoot by fall. Sandra Bernhard, Eartha Kitt, Scott Thompson and Alan Cumming have signed on.

Cassella will also star in the pilot Up Late, a possible late-night entry for CBC shooting this month. It’s a bit conceptual – set at a fictional downtown nightclub that hosts musical acts and other guests, with Cassella starring as a version of herself, the club’s owner. Paul Bellini is writing.

‘Maggie is a real presence on the screen… Loud, funny, smart and queer,’ says Nightingale. ‘It’s not a talk show. It’s not a Leno. It’s meant to be a hybrid of reality, comedy and drama.’